Victorian Hunting Lodge In Killarney National Park

Kayak picnic yesterday at a fantastic 19th century hunting lodge. Once a scene of Victorian parties and debauchery; stayed at by Mary Shelly; lunched at by Queen Victoria. Destroyed in a raging fire in 1922, claiming the lives of several servants.

Pretty seriously haunted by night now. Visited only by owl, bat, squirrel and deer. Encircled by rhododendron thickets. The charred rafters and lintels stand stark reminder to that dreadful fire.

As Badger says in Wind In The Willows 'man will come and man will go; nature may be moved out, but nature will always return and will always conquer'; or something along those lines.